Showing posts with label ariana grande. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ariana grande. Show all posts

Saturday, March 26, 2016

"Let's Get Loud" by Jennifer Lopez (1999)




J.Lo, enduring beauty and talent


Gone are the days when Hispanic beauty Jennifer Lopez was one of my objects of infatuation. Well, because infatuation is fleeting, and I did not hear much of her today. I know little or nothing about her music past 2003.

One thing I know is that she is still hot and beautiful. She still got the curves.

Way back in my freshmen year at secondary school, her song “Let's Get Loud” was official dance music for our cheer dance competition, which my faction lost. I believe that was my first exposure to her music.

Jennifer Lopez Let's Get Loud single cover
Let's Get Loud single cover (Wikipedia)

Memories of J.Lo in various media


A year later, her movie Anaconda was shown on TV, at a summer Sunday night. For me, it was a golden age of TV watching. A lot of good shows and cartoons that year: Recuerdo de Amor, Ang TV 2, Wansapanatym, Pwedeng-Pwede, Jumangi, Pokemon, etc. But back to J.Lo, of course.

More than a year later, in what was one of my worst yet most memorable months, I borrowed a VCD of J.Lo music videos from a classmate. I watched them on a Saturday night. The music video for “Waiting For Tonight” was a visual feast, if you know what I mean. And the song “No Me Ames”, a duet with Marc Anthony, was ear candy.

Next day, I returned the VCD to my classmate. She then lent me, with permission from her uncle, VCDs of Madonna and Mariah Carey music videos.

2003 was J.Lo's year, despite the rise of Nu Metal and Alternative Rock acts like Linkin Park and Simple Plan. It was the peak year of her career. She starred in the movie Gigli. Her 3rd studio album This is Me... Then performed well on the music charts. She was in love with Ben Affleck, star of Daredevil.

Christmas that year, I received a Celine Dion cassette tape as present from my mother. My brother got This is Me... Then.

Jennifer Lopez sexy figure
Jennifer Lopez, forever curvaceous

The last time I would like a J.Lo song was in 2004. Her single "Get Right” was well received by urban stations that I used to listen to. A decent song, it is.

Right now, J.Lo is busy choosing the last winner for the dying American Idol.

Jennifer Lopez is just one of the few female idols who have both beauty and substance. Her talent complements her looks, and vice versa - departments Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj and most K-pop stars thought they have. J.Lo never abuses her look, unlike those aforementioned artists.

How I wish I could turn back time to woo Miss Lopez!

Where did I hide those newspaper clippings on J.Lo?

May God bless Jennifer Lopez... and her curves!


Sunday, July 5, 2015

"Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman (2002)




Christina Aguilera: from sweet to dirrty


The year was 2002. I learned about Christina Aguilera after listening to one of her hits, titled "Come On Over (All I Want is You)". Weeks later, I bought a bootlegged cassette tape of her first album in what was the worst month of my year. Months later, I read about her controversial single and video "Dirrty" and how it spiked sex tourism in Thailand. Next year,my classmate bought me her Stripped album and invited me to his place to watch the controversial video.

"Dirrty" single cover

Man, talk about Christina Aguilera. Talk about memories. After watching her video "The Voice Within", I considered her to be one of the two whitest women in music (the other one was Michelle Branch).

I admit I did not get the best of Miss Aguilera because that time, I was so infatuated with Britney Spears. I missed Aguilera's transformation from teen pop star to sex symbol (due to the image she exhibited during the Stripped period). But it was a drastic or quick change of image, if you ask me.

Aguilera popularizing the "slut drop" dance move

Miss Spears expressed full adulthood and maturity after two albums, reason why I somewhat welcomed her persona after the release of her third album Britney. Well, I looked up to her first two albums to find support for Britney and later albums.

Xtina Aguilera's change of image a shock


About Miss Aguilera, I found just one album, few resources to find support for her drastic change in image. (I am not talking about her Spanish and Christmas albums that Aguilera released before Stripped). It was quick. She had not given her fans - fans of her bubblegum pop persona - enough content to enjoy the best of her. At least, she isn't fake, like Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Arianna Grande. But I feared she had alienated her pop fans. Here, I recalled the pop rock band The Moffats.

The looks of Christina Aguilera

The change from something teen and innocent to something sexy and racy was necessary to jump-start her career. It was to give music fans something to talk about, and not just about Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and Vanessa Carlton.

2002 was one of the best years in music, just three years to go before the music would die, and thugs and whores would take over music.

Anytime, I would pick Christina Aguilera over today's artists. She is way more talented than Iggy, Miley, Katy, Arianna, Taylor Swift, Nikki Minaj, and Beyonce combined.


Sunday, March 29, 2015

"Summer Sunshine" by The Corrs (2004)




Memory of a great Irish folk rock band


I miss summer vacation, and I miss the songs that popped out many summers ago. I'm not talking about the singles of lady gaga or demi lovato.

I'm talking out this one, "Summer Sunshine" by the Irish band The Corrs. One talented lad plus three beautiful and equally talented ladies equal one great band, and they were gone. They make Irish / Celtic music sound cool. Like many artists of the yesteryears, they made good music...real music.


They are great musicians, them Corr siblings: Multi-talented, multi-instrumentalists, and good-looking too. They are one of the best music acts to come out of Ireland. The others include U2, Boyzone, Westlife and to some degree, B*Witched and Bellefire.

Back in high school, we played one of their popular songs for the prom dance. In the summer of 2004, "Summer Sunshine" came out, and a midnight music show played their songs almost every midnight for the whole summer. While going through this classic, I recalled a number of past songs. (They will be featured later in this blog.)


Too bad I hear less of The Corrs on the radio today. People now care about justin bieber, one direction, taylor swift, kanye west, nicky minaj, ariana grande, iggy azalea, etc. Even if these things combine, they would still end up less talented than The Corrs. Music is so relaxing back in the days, and it was all about music. But now... never mind.


Sorry, it's just another bout of generation gap. I have no right to criticize today's youth's choice of music. Blame it on the FM stations, blame it on the record shops and blame it on us elders who fail in our mission to spread good music.

But let today's youth know, music is all about music back in the days, not striptease and good looks.